Dwaraka lila: Rohini devi narated Lord Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan
Once when Krishna was living in the city of Dwarka, Narada Muni, the great mendicant who travels the universe, came into the assembly of Krishna’s 16,108 wives.
Narada Muni offered them his respects and began to glorify the Queens saying how they were the best servants of Krishna, and the most glorious devotees in the entire universe.
But by his words the Queens could understand a different meaning: that Krishna really wants to return to Vrindavan and taste the love of the gopis.
Prompted by Narada Muni, Krishna’s wives began asking Balaram’s mother Rohini, who was also in the assembly, to tell them about Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan.
She had lived there with Krishna and Balaram before They came to Dwarka.
The residents of Dwarka are said to worship Krishna as the Supreme Lord.
But the residents of Vrindavan have a very confidential relationship with Krishna that surpasses awe and reverence because it is based on friendship and love.
Krishna’s wives wanted to hear about the special quality of love that the cowherd boys and girls have for Krishna and how that love had captured Krishna’s heart in Vrindavan.
Cautious that the discussion should not be overheard by Krishna, Rohini asked Krishna’s sister, Subadra, to stand watch at the door and prevent Krishna and Balaram from entering into the assembly.
This narration was secretly done without informing Lord Krsna and Balaram.
Remembering her friend Yasoda, who is Krishna’s mother, Rohini then began to speak about Krishna’s wonderful pastimes in Vrindavan.
She described how the residents of Vrindavan only know Krishna as their son, their beloved or their friend.
Rohini told the Queens, “You sometimes think that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, and you can see His four hands.”
She described how in Vrindavan this idea is never present. The inhabitants of Vrindavan see Krishna as an innocent boy who is dancing and playing His flute. His turban is decorated with peacock feathers. He loves, and is loved by, all the cowherd boys and girls.
Even though sixteen thousand one hundred eight queens had closed all the doors and windows of the palace, still the Lord entered and listened to His own glories.
Meanwhile, Krishna, sensing that He was being talked about, came along with His brother Balaram and standing to the right and left of Their sister Subadra, They could overhear Rohini’s wonderful stories.
Just by hearing these stories Krishna became overwhelmed with intense feelings of separation for Vrindavan.
He was so completely absorbed in hearing the Vrindavan pastimes, that His heart began to melt.
Krishna and Balaram became so ecstatic that Their internal feelings were exhibited externally. Their eyes became very wide!
Their heads compressed into Their bodies, and Their limbs retracted!
They appeared just like the forms that are worshipped today as Lord Jagannath, Subadra and Baladev in Jagannath Puri.
Gradually They returned to Their normal consciousness and forms.
When Krishna had recovered fully, He could understand that Narada Muni had a hand in this.
Narada Muni was worried because Krishna’s extreme feelings of separation had caused this remarkable transformation and he thought that Krishna would be angry with him.
Krishna told Narada Muni, “You must have said something that caused the Queens to question Mother Rohini.”
Then to Narada Muni’s relief, Krishna told him how happy he was that this had happened and wanted to give Narada Muni a benediction.
Hearing that Krishna was happy made Narada Muni happy and he asked, “My desire is that you will remain in those forms somewhere in this world and the whole world will see you. In that form you will be patita-pavana, the savior of the fallen and the entire world will be liberated by your darshan. That is what I want.”
Krishna replied: “Yes, it will be! I will manifest these three Deities and the Sudarshan chakra (Krishna’s disc) in the city of Puri, on the bank of the ocean.”
Moral of the story:
Speaking about Krishna is supreme spiritual activity.
As Krishna Himself stated to Narada Muni:
naham vasami vaikunthe yoginam hrdaye na ca
mad bhaktah yatra gayanti tatra tisthami narada
"O Narada, I do not live in My spiritual abode, nor do I live in the hearts of great meditating yogis, but I live at the place where My devotees speak about My transcendental pastimes."
In other words, wherever Lord Krsna's pastimes are being spoken, Krsna is present.
As stated in the Padma Purana:
tulasi kananam yatra yatra padma vanani ca
purana pathanam yatra tatra sannihito harih
"Wherever there is an abundance of Tulasi plants growing, wherever there is an abundance of lotuses growing, and wherever Srimad Bhagavatam is being narrated, Lord Krsna Himself is personally present."
!['Śrīla Prabhupāda Says - [Regarding reincarnation]
The temporary material body is certainly a foreign dress. The Bhagavad-gītā (2.20) clearly says that after the destruction of the material body the living entity is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity. The identity of the living entity is never impersonal or formless; on the contrary, it is the material dress that is formless and that takes a shape according to the form of the indestructible person. No living entity is originally formless, as is wrongly thought by those with a poor fund of knowledge. This mantra verifies the fact that the living entity exists after the annihilation of the material body.
In the material world, material nature displays wonderful workmanship by creating varieties of bodies for the living beings according to their propensities for sense gratification. The living entity who wants to taste stool is given a material body that is quite suitable for eating stool—that of a hog.
Similarly, one who wants to eat the flesh and blood of other animals may be given a tiger's body equipped with suitable teeth and claws. But the human being is not meant for eating flesh, nor does he have any desire to taste stool, even in the most aboriginal state. Human teeth are so made that they can chew and cut fruit and vegetables, although there are two canine teeth so that primitive humans can eat flesh if they so desire.
But in any case, the material bodies of all animals and men are foreign to the living entity. They change according to the living entity's desire for sense gratification. In the cycle of evolution, the living entity changes bodies one after another. When the world was full of water, the living entity took an aquatic form. Then he passed to vegetable life, from vegetable life to worm life, from worm life to bird life, from bird life to animal life, and from animal life to the human form. The highest developed form is this human form when it is possessed of a full sense of spiritual knowledge.
The highest development of one's spiritual sense is described in this mantra: One should give up the material body, which will be turned to ashes, and allow the air of life to merge into the eternal reservoir of air. The living being's activities are performed within the body through the movements of different kinds of air, known in summary as prāṇa-vāyu. The yogis generally study how to control the airs of the body. The soul is supposed to rise from one circle of air to another until it rises to the brahma-randhra, the highest circle.
From that point the perfect yogi can transfer himself to any planet he likes. The process is to give up one material body and then enter into another. But the highest perfection of such changes occurs only when the living entity is able to give up the material body altogether, as suggested in this mantra, and enter into the spiritual atmosphere, where he can develop a completely different type of body-a spiritual body, which never has to meet death or change.
Here in the material world, material nature forces the living entity to change his body due to his different desires for sense gratification. These desires are represented in the various species of life, from germs to the most perfected material bodies, those of Brahmā and the demigods. All of these living entities have bodies composed of matter in different shapes.
The intelligent man sees oneness not in the variety of the bodies but in the spiritual identity. The spiritual spark, which is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, is the same whether he is in a body of a hog or in the body of a demigod. The living entity takes on different bodies according to his pious and vicious activities. The human body is highly developed and has full consciousness.
According to the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19), the most perfect man surrenders unto the Lord after many, many lifetimes of culturing knowledge. The culture of knowledge reaches perfection only when the knower comes to the point of surrendering unto the Supreme Lord, Vāsudeva. Otherwise, even after attaining knowledge of one's spiritual identity, if one does not come to the point of knowing that the living entities are eternal parts and parcels of the whole and can never become the whole, one has to fall down again into the material atmosphere. Indeed, one must fall down even if he has become one with the brahmajyoti.
As we have learned from previous mantras, the brahmajyoti emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord is full of spiritual sparks that are individual entities with the full sense of existence. Sometimes these living entities want to enjoy their senses, and therefore they are placed in the material world to become false lords under the dictation of the senses. The desire for lordship is the material disease of the living being, for under the spell of sense enjoyment he transmigrates through the various bodies manifested in the material world. Becoming one with the brahmajyoti does not represent mature knowledge. Only by surrendering unto the Lord completely and developing one's sense of spiritual service does one reach the highest perfectional stage.
In this mantra the living entity prays to enter the spiritual kingdom of God after relinquishing his material body and material air. The devotee prays to the Lord to remember his activities and the sacrifices he has performed before his material body is turned into ashes. He makes this prayer at the time of death, with full consciousness of his past deeds and of the ultimate goal. One who is completely under the rule of material nature remembers the heinous activities he performed during the existence of his material body, and consequently he gets another material body after death.
[Śrī Īśopaniṣad - 1974 Edition]'](https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/p350x350/10931131_792308417528498_5121225450354969202_n.jpg?oh=74a10b75fed5cd62e0c9c2b1bf5437cb&oe=5551B63C&__gda__=1434942593_6ba8996cb35a6b21f2c715c955ed6a2e)
